I've been threatening to make cheesecake for a while now. Yes, I do believe "threatening" is the appropriate term here; any recipient of this cheesecake should be forewarned because the first bite will keep them coming back for more and the last bite will render them deliriously satisfied. I was supposed to make this for Shavuot about a month ago and give one to Halla, but - didn't. Sooooo, I finally decided to make one for our 4th of July BBQ at my in-laws' house. (Happy belated 4th of July, by the way). My plan was to decorate it like a flag using cherries for the stripes and blueberries for the stars but it didn't come out right. I bought frozen cherries so I wouldn't have to bother with pitting the fresh ones, and frozen blueberries too. But the frozen fruit was so dark and mushy that it would have made a dreary looking flag. I ended up tossing the cherries and blueberries together in a bowl and serving them on the side for people to spoon on top if they wanted. The picture above is the one I made last year on Shavuot - it has fresh blackberries on top. My recipe originally came from The Book of Jewish Food by Caudia Roden, but I have tweaked it and fine-tuned it a bit to make it my own. It's a fairly traditional recipe and not the easiest, so I don't make it that often, but it's well worth the effort for special occasions. By the way, Halla tells me she has an "easy" cheesecake recipe - I think she's treading on MY territory now - he he he.
For the shortbread crust:
1 1/2 cups (200 g) flour
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (75 g) sugar
4 oz (100 g) butter, cut into pieces
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
For the filling:
1 lb (500 g) cream cheese
2/3 cup (150 ml) sour cream
5 eggs, separated
7/8 cup superfine sugar (Baker's sugar)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
For the topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup superfine sugar (Baker's sugar)
For the shortbread crust, mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl and rub the butter in with your hands. Mix in the egg and work very briefly until bound into a soft dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave for 1/2 hour.
Line a greased 10 1/2" (26 cm) spring-form pan with the pastry by pressing it all over the bottom and a little up the sides with your hand (it is difficult to roll out). Bake it blind in a preheated 350 degree F (180 degree C) for 20 minutes. Let it cool before you cover it with the filling, or it will break up.
For the filling, mix the cream cheese with the rest of the filling ingredients except the egg whites and beat until smooth. Use a food processor for this step, it's difficult to get it smooth using an electric beater, the food processor works much better. Then beat the egg whites to stiff snowy peaks and fold into the cheese mixture. Pour into the pan over the shortbread crust. Bake in a preheated 300 degree F (150 degree C) oven for 1 hour. I recommend, at this time, that you order everyone (spouse, children, pets, etc) out of the kitchen for the next 2 hours to prevent the cake from falling. When the 1 hour is up, tip-toe back into the kitchen and turn the oven off but do NOT open the oven door! Leave the cake in the oven with the door shut for 1/2 hour. Then take the cake out to finish cooling on a wire rack. Combine the sour cream and sugar together and pour over the top of the cake right when you take it out of the oven. Once fully cooled, keep refrigerated. Before serving you can top with fruit, jam, or fruit pie filling if you like, but it's good without too.
